


In The Glow Of A New Day

by MalecCrazedAuthor



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Banter, Episode: s02e18 Awake Arise Or Be Forever Fallen, Fluff, Inquisitive Alec Lightwood, M/M, Morning After, Philosophy, Post-Episode: s02e07 How Are Thou Fallen, Protective Alec Lightwood, wise Magnus Bane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 09:52:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11644065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalecCrazedAuthor/pseuds/MalecCrazedAuthor
Summary: A continuation of the morning after conversation in the 2x18 flashback sneak peek.





	In The Glow Of A New Day

**Author's Note:**

> This one is short and unbetaed

“Well, what scares _you_?”

Magnus asks the question with a teasing smile that somehow feels just the tiniest bit brittle. How Alec knows that, he’s not sure. Even last night he probably wouldn’t have recognized it. After all, no one would ever accuse him of having an excess of empathy.

But here in this bed, this moment, with the warm glow of the rising sun turning everything around them to molten gold, he feels _attuned_ to Magnus, in a way he’s not sure he’s ever felt before, not even with Jace when their parabatai bond has been at its strongest.

“Seriously? You’re gonna turn it around on me without even answering?” Alec’s jaw scratches and rasps on the pillowcase, despite the fact that he shaved before rushing to Magnus’s place last night after he came to his decision. Everything just feels _more_ this morning. The sun is brighter, the sheets more slippery, the slow susurration of their breaths and the whisper of their skin against the bedding is a cacophony in his ears.

He’d always assumed claims that everything felt different after your first time were a myth. Now he’s inclined to believe them.

His body still hums with the memory of pleasure and if he’s still too groggy to initiate anything more just yet, there’s a sizzle along his nerves that tells him he won’t be for long.

“Fine.” Magnus sighs. “I’m abjectly terrified of deep philosophical questions before my first cup of tea in the morning.”

“Not coffee?” It’s absurd, how thrilling it is to seize upon some new sliver of knowledge to add to his growing Magnus compendium. Now he knows something he didn’t before. He has insight into Magnus’s morning routine, and it feels like a triumph.

“Coffee is for when I require brute force caffeination after pulling an all-nighter for a particularly annoying client.” Magnus shudders. “Tea is for civilized mornings.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Alec murmurs, unable to prevent himself from reaching out to sweep a knuckle down Magnus’s bare forearm. Within seconds, he plots a campaign to discover Magnus’s favorite kind of tea. His imagination starts tossing out scenarios for how to surprise Magnus with a freshly steeped cup, maybe greeting him with it right at daybreak after getting back from an all-night hunt.

His knuckle bumps the back of Magnus’s hand and without any conscious effort their hands turn, orient themselves with each other.

Magnus’s fingers lace with his. “Your turn to answer the question.”

“Oh, my turn, huh?” Alec snickers. “You call that an answer?”

“It’ll do for now,” Magnus says breezily.

“Okay, fine.” Alec shakes his head and sighs. He knows what his fears are only too well, and though perhaps they’re too heavy, here in this glorious, golden stillness, it feels safe to speak them aloud. “I’m afraid of not being able to protect everyone I care about.”

Magnus doesn’t speak, and once the floodgates are open, the words keep flowing. “That’s always been my job, you know? Jace and Izzy rush headlong into whatever they’re going to get into, and I guard the perimeter, watch their backs, make sure nothing flanks them. I guess you don’t have to reach very far for the metaphor there.”

“Given what I’ve seen you do for your family over the past couple months? Not at all.”

Alec’s gaze slides sideways to catch Magnus frowning thoughtfully. “What?”

“Nothing. I think it’s an amazing trait, that sort of devotion. Though I do wonder about the cost to you.”

Something uncomfortable squirms in Alec’s gut, dimming the edges of the glowing morning. “You’re talking about my wedding?”

Magnus’s fingers tighten around his. “Not necessarily, though it’s not a bad example. Carrying the responsibility of shielding everyone from the fallout of their own choices is a terrible burden. And it runs the risk of devolving into paternalism, which--however well-intentioned--eventually breeds resentment. Perhaps sometimes the trick is knowing when to protect, and when to make sure the people you love have what they need to protect themselves, so they can make their own choices--and occasionally take the knocks that come with those choices.”

That’s...an uncomfortable thought, and not one he wants to spend too much time on just now. Later, when he has an opportunity to mull it over properly.

Instead, Alec rolls to face Magnus again and draws Magnus’s hand up to his lips to kiss the back of it. “I thought you didn’t talk philosophy before your morning tea?”

Magnus gives him a narrow look. “I definitely do not, and I have no intention of falling for your attempts to lure me into that forbidden territory.”

“Oh really?” Alec releases his fingers and runs his hand down Magnus’s solid shoulder, and then further, along ribs and waist and hip. Slick satin skates over warm brown skin. “Maybe I can lure you into something else instead?”

Magnus makes a low sound, trapped somewhere between a purr and sigh. His knee wedges itself between Alec’s as he rolls closer, and his voice is a husky rasp. “You need only ask.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come dish Shadowhunters with me at [maleccrazedauthor.tumblr.com](http://maleccrazedauthor.tumblr.com)


End file.
